


Green

by solangelosunangel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), F/F, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, M/M, Pidge gets her first kiss, Post-Season Three, VLD3 spoilers, background klance, but lowkey, i hate myself too, i listened to hayley kiyoko on repeat while writing this, my working title while writing this was 'pidget spinner', pidge gets a gf, pidge is older like 16 or 17 idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 00:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11725521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solangelosunangel/pseuds/solangelosunangel
Summary: When Pidge is put on a mission with the lovey-dovey Lance and Keith, she can't help but feel jealous of their relationship.  And then she finds an alien of her own.





	Green

      Pidge is fairly sure that Allura is trying to kill her.

Why else would she send her alone on a mission with the newly-together Keith and Lance?  They are bound to be all lovey-dovey when they drop down for the after-victory party.  That is something Pidge is not looking forward to.  Thankfully, they remain focused as they take out the Galra overlords that rule this planet.

     “Pidge!” Keith calls into the comms.  “There’s a fighter advancing on your six!”

     “Thanks,” Pidge says.  She turns the green lion in a barrel roll and shoots the fighter.  It erupts in a small explosion, and the three paladins turn to face the last of the fleet.

     With a swift blast, Lance takes out three Galra fighters.  He whoops, turning the red lion into a backflip.  The final two are shot down by Keith, and the three lions gently descend to the ground.

     Keith and Lance immediately make their way over to each other, leaving Pidge to catch up.  She waits near Green, pretending to check out her lion, wanting to give them a few dobashes alone.   All that romance stuff is kind of disgusting.

     Pidge is completely and utterly jealous of Keith and Lance.   She isn’t the most in tune with her emotions and feelings, but she can understand the telling tug in her gut whenever they do something remotely couple-y.  And, hey, if someone as averse to emotion as Keith is (unless the emotion is anger) can get a boyfriend, then why can't Pidge?   She is, however, knowledgeable enough about her own feelings to know that it’s not a boyfriend that she wants.

     As Pidge wanders over, Keith and Lance break from their long hug.

     “Nice work out there, Pidge,” Keith says.  While he may not like being the black paladin all that much, Keith definitely takes being the leader seriously, and that means praising his team when they do something good.

     She feels her cheeks warm at the approval, and she thanks him with a bright smile.

     “Let’s get this parade started!” Lance says, pumping his fist in the air.

     “I doubt they’re going to have a parade for us,” says Keith, exasperated.

     Pidge notices their fingers are tangled together, and, yup, there’s that tell-tale twist in her stomach.  What they’re doing is annoying, but Pidge can’t help but hope for the same thing.

     The freed King of the planet Ogblud walks over to greet the victorious paladins.  He shakes hands with both Keith and Lance, but Pidge is not paying attention when he turns to thank her.

     The daughter of the Ogblud King stands behind him, her hands clasped elegantly in front of her stomach.  If she’s going by Earth years, Pidge would assume the Princess is the same age as her.  

     Her hair—a dark shade of purple—is cut to her shoulders and flows freely under a twig-and-flower crown.  On her light, light blue skin, there are black spots along the line of her cheekbone and down her nose.

     Pidge makes eye contact with the Princess, the beautiful, cheerful Princess.  Pidge's mouth quirks up into a small smile, and her eyes blow open.  The Princess shyly grins back.

     The King clears his throat, and Keith elbows Pidge in the side.

     She startles, her face reddening, and frantically sticks out her hand for the King to grasp.  He does, chuckling lightly, though he does not know what had had Pidge’s attention.  

     As Pidge pushes her glasses back up on her nose, she catches sight of the Princess giggling into her hand.  Pidge cannot take her eyes away.

     The King continues talking to Keith and Lance for a few moments, but he eventually ends the conversation with, “Come to my castle.  We will have a feast in your honor.”

     The King turns to leave, and he beckons his daughter to follow him.  The Princess does.  After a few steps, she looks over her shoulder at Pidge and smiles warmly.

     A few ticks pass, and Pidge finally is able to move again.  She sighs, and then she turns her head to the other paladins.   Pidge freezes, realizing her mistake way too late.  Lance has a smirk on his face, and one of his eyebrows is raised.  Keith smiles thoughtfully.

     “Shut up,” Pidge says before anyone speaks.

     “Pidge has a crush,” Lance singsongs.

     “You’re one to talk.”

     Keith smiles again.  “She does have a point.”

     “Fine,” Lance huffs in mock anger at being ganged up on.  “Let’s just go enjoy this feast.”

     Pidge starts walking ahead, evidently eager to get to the castle.  Lance and Keith watch her for a tick.

     “We’re gonna help her get the Princess, right?” Keith asks.

     “Oh, definitely.”

* * *

     The feast goes well, and Pidge drops her utensil only three times when the Princess catches her staring.  Thankfully, the people of this planet are naturally talkative (as is Lance) so they hold most of the conversation.  Only a few questions are directed at Pidge, and Keith has to nudge her to get her attention each time.

     The Princess had changed, clearly, before the feast, but the paladins had not had the luxury.  While Pidge is still in her sweaty armor, the Princess is in a light pink dress that hugs the soft, gentle curves of her body.  Her hair is twisted up with gems sprinkled throughout the topknot.  Pidge wants nothing more that to undo her hair and run her fingers through it.  

     After the meal is finished, the tables are quickly swept away.  A fast-paced song is put on, and the people crowd in trios to dance.  Pidge is thankful that the Ogblud aliens dance in trios, because she really doesn't feel like trying to find a partner.

     As soon as the music begins, Lance pulls her and Keith to the dance floor, where they poorly begin to replicate the intricate dances that the Ogbluds are doing.  Laughter bubbles up from the paladins, and Pidge is genuinely having a good time.  At least until the music changes pace.

     It becomes slower, the slow that Terran slow dances would be.  The Ogbluds pair off, and Pidge feels a lump build in her throat.  At diplomatic and celebratory events such as this one, the paladins are always expected to dance. 

     Maybe because Allura isn't here to make sure she's doing everything she's supposed to, Pidge can slip away undetected, free of Allura's all-seeing Altean eyes.

     Pidge tries to leave, but Lance grabs her arm.  “Nope.  No, you don’t.  You’re dancing with the Princess.”  

     He points, and Pidge follows his finger across the room.  The Princess is looking at her, smiling shyly.  Pidge waves, and the Princess begins to walk over to her.

     Panic sets in.  Pidge turns to the other paladins, frantically saying, “What do I do?  I don’t know how to dance at an Ogblud party.  I don’t even know how to dance at an Earth party!  And I’m all dirty from fighting the Galra, and my hands are all sweaty.  Oh!  And she’ll hold them, and then I—”

     “Pidge,” interrupts Keith.  “Calm down.  She seems to really like you.”

     Pidge pushes her glasses up, and she wrings her hands together.

     The Princess arrives in front of Pidge, and Pidge hastily bows.  It seems like the right thing to do.

     The Princess speaks.  The Princess speaks, and her voice sounds like honey, like clouds, like bells ringing at midnight.  Pidge has never heard anything prettier.  The Princess speaks.

     “Green Paladin,” she says.  “May I have this dance?”

     “I—uh.”

     The Princess laughs and holds her hand out, pausing and waiting for Pidge to take it.  Finally, after staring at it for a few ticks, Pidge grabs the Princess’ hand.

     Thankfully for Pidge, the Princess leads.  She is calm where Pidge is nervous, steady where Pidge is unbalanced.  Ogblud dancing is very similar to Terran slow-dancing, just with a little more flair.  Eventually, Pidge gets the hang of the subtle kicks and spins.

     “I did not catch your name,” the Princess eventually says.

     “It’s Pidge.  Well, actually, my real name is Katie, but when I went to school, I had to use a pseudonym, well, really a whole new identity, because I had gotten banned…”  Pidge continues speaking.  She rambles on and on.  

     The Princess listens intently, her eyes never straying from Pidge’s.

     When Pidge realizes that she hasn’t taken a breath in her whole paragraph of talking and she is currently in the middle of a story about Matt when he was younger, she cuts herself off.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to ramble,” she says.  

     “I like listening to you talk.”

     Pidge’s face goes completely red, as red as the lion that Lance now pilots. Curse her pale skin!  She changes the subject as the music changes tempo.  It goes even slower, and the Princess presses herself closer to Pidge.  “What is your name, Princess?”

     In close quarters, Pidge’s entire vision is filled by those black spots that accent her nose and cheekbones.  Pidge wishes she could trail her fingers across them.

     “My name is Princess Zantanda.”

     “Princess Zantanda.”  Pidge feels a flutter in her chest when her name hits her tongue.

     They continue to dance in comfortable, companionable silence.  Finally, Princess Zantanda speaks again.

     “You represent hope, Green Paladin Pidge.  Voltron represents hope.”  She looks off over Pidge’s shoulder at something that isn’t there.  “While we were captive, my people became listless.  They lost what gave them life.   But when we heard rumors that Voltron was dismantling the Empire, you inspired us to fight for our freedom.  We insurrected, but we would never be free if it wasn’t for you, the red paladin, and the black paladin.”

     “I appreciate your words, but we would have never come to your planet if it wasn’t for your rebellion.  The Galra here were excellent at hiding their existence.”

     “We defeated them together,” says Princess Zantanda. There is a beat of silence, and her tone of voice changes slightly. “We are a good team.”

     “Well, I’m sure that three laser-shooting lion spaceships and an army of rebellious ground soldiers could defeat anybody.” Obviously, this is not true, but she doesn't want to be a Debbie Downer in front of Princess Zantanda.

     “I meant me and you.”  She nods her head to indicate herself and Pidge.  “With the dancing.”

     Pidge’s blush comes back full force.  “I’m not good at dancing!”

     “Nonsense,” the Princess laughs.  “You are an excellent pupil.”

     “I think it’s more that you’re an excellent teacher.”

     The Princess grins at that compliment.

     The music starts to wind down, signalling an end to the night.  Suddenly, Pidge becomes frantic.  While she had not wanted to this to happen at first, now she doesn’t want it to end.   Searching for help, she spares a glance at Keith and Lance, who had stayed near her for the entire dance.  The Princess follows Pidge’s line of sight to the other paladins.

     Keith has his arms wrapped around Lance’s neck, and their mouths are pressed together.  Lance dances his fingers across Keith’s hips.

     “The other paladins,” Princess Zantanda says.  “Are they performing some kind of ritual of attraction from the planet you three hail from?”

     “Uh… yes?  It’s called a kiss.”

     “Ah.  Then I shall do a kiss with you.”

     Without any hesitation, Princess Zantanda pulls Pidge’s arms around her neck and leaves them there, sending her own hands to Pidge’s waist, mirroring Keith and Lance.  The green paladin is too shocked to move.

     Princess Zantanda kisses Pidge, and everything else melts away.  The Princess’ mouth is warm, and Pidge presses her lips softly against Zantanda’s.

     When Pidge finally pulls away (even though she doesn’t want to), her face is red but open and happy.  She smiles shyly and readjusts her glasses.

    “When you come back to Ogblud,” the Princess starts.  “I will show you how my people show attraction.”

     It takes Pidge a moment to process this statement past  _ hair!  Mouth!  Girl!  Lips!  Eyes!  Smile!  Girl!  Girl!  Girl!   _ She says, “You want to see me again?”

     “Of course.  You must come back so we can continue our romance.”

     Pidge is sure that the universal translator is glitching, because there is no way that the Princess wants to… to date Pidge!  But she knows that the translator can’t be glitching.  She and Hunk had built them perfectly, and nothing like that has happened before.  This has to be the real translation.

     Pidge’s nervousness comes back full force.  “I’m not sure…  Saving the universe is a full-time job…”

     The Princess smiles, and Pidge is lost in her. 

     Pidge would leave Voltron for Princess Zantanda.  Well, after she found Matt and her father.  No, she would steal the green lion, fly back to Ogblud and convince the Princess to come with her, they would go find Matt and her father, and then she would gloat to Matt that she has a cool alien girlfriend.  After beating him up for leaving her.  Which would come after hugging him until he promised he would never leave her again.

     Ugh.  Now Pidge is even nervous-rambling in her mind.  She looks at the Princess’ smile again, and she detects something mischievous there.  When Lance has that smile, Pidge knows that something bad is going to happen.  With the Princess, though, Pidge can’t help but ache to hear what she has to say.

     “If Voltron is busy helping planets that need liberating, then I might just have to make a distress call.”

     Pidge’s mind comes up with some dirty retort that contains both the words ‘ _ liberation _ ’ and ‘ _ clothing _ ’, and she chastises herself for spending too much time with Lance.  

     She assumes that the Princess is referring to the communication device that Keith had presumably given to the King.  Pidge isn’t sure if Keith did because she was staring at the Princess for the entirety of the conversation between the paladins and the Ogblud King.

     Pidge says, “Well, Voltron can never look past someone in need.”

* * *

     The teasing that Pidge gets on the comms on the way back to the castle is  _ relentless _ .

     “Look at our little Pidgey getting her first kiss,” Lance coos.

     Pidge barely refrains from rolling her eyes, but her cheeks turn pink anyway.  “I know Keith was your first, too, so don’t make fun of me.”

     Lance lets out a shocked noise.  “Keith, babe, that was private information.”

     “Best friends gotta tell each other everything, Lance,  _ babe _ ,” Keith says.  “Don’t you tell everything to Hunk?”

     “Well, yeah, but—”

     “Plus you were Keith’s first kiss, too, Lance.  So why is it only funny when  _ I  _ get my first kiss?”

     “Pidgeon, first of all, I wasn’t teasing you.  Second of all, I am proud of you for kissing a hot alien girl.  I can only imagine what it would be like to date an alien.”

     The comms are quiet for an entire dobash before Keith just says, “Right.”

     “Kidding, babe.  You may be only  _ part _ alien, but you’re  _ completely _ out of this world.”

     “That was the worst one yet.”

     Another dobash of silence ticks by.

     Pidge says, “Isn’t it weird that we had to come to space to find love?”

     “Aw, Pidgeon, you’re gonna make me cry.”

     “I think being away from Earth and having this burden of saving the universe thrown on our shoulders really puts things into perspective and makes us realize what we want and that we shouldn’t waste time not having it,” Keith says.

     Everyone pretends not to hear the tears shed and light sniffles from all of them through the comms.

* * *

     A long while passes. But one day, Allura says, “We are going to be heading back to Ogblud for a diplomatic—”

     At the name of the planet, Pidge perks up, and she cuts Allura off.  “I’ll go!”

     “You just want to see your  _ girlfriend _ ,” Hunk teases, reminiscent of the time when Pidge had teased Hunk about Shay.

     “She’s not my girlfriend!  She’s just an alien that I met and I admire very much.” But Princess Zantanda is very much Pidge's girlfriend.

     Hunk laughs.  “That’s not what I read in your diary.”  He holds the book up in the air tauntingly.

     Pidge’s eyes go wide behind her glasses, and she snatches the diary back from Hunk.

     Allura waits a tick to see if anyone else will interrupt her.  When no one does, she continues talking.  “As I was saying.  We will be going to Ogblud for a diplomatic meeting that will hopefully add another planet to the coalition.  You are all to be in attendance in formal Altean wear.  Coran has already placed your attire in your rooms.  We will be there in a few vargas, so I suggest you get something to eat and then get ready.”

     Pidge is buzzing around the castle.  She fiddles with her computer and bothers Hunk with what he’s working on in his room.  She even sits with Keith and Lance in the latter boy’s room for a few dobashes before they kick her out so they can get ready.

     She decides not to let the Princess know that she is coming.  She assumes that she will find out anyway that Voltron will be arriving for a meeting.

     Back when Pidge had first met the Princess, their departure was heartbreaking.  Some very quick thinking allowed Pidge to create some communication devices that would allow them to talk to each other through a basic form of video chat. 

     Pidge figures that she should change into her formal clothing and try to stop thinking about Princess Zantanda.

     In her room, she finds Altean formal wear, somewhat similar to what Coran wears everyday.  Pidge’s is green.  Hunk’s is yellow.  She doesn’t know if Keith and Lance will wear different clothing to reflect the lion change or not.

     At Voltron’s very first diplomatic meeting, Pidge had been made to wear a dress like Allura’s.  When she made it known to Allura how uncomfortable she was in the clothing, Allura told Coran to give Pidge the green suit that she now wears.

     Pidge continuously runs her hands over her clothing, pretending to smooth it down, down, down, as the paladins wait to exit the castle.

     When they finally do, Pidge can barely feel her legs move.  She knows she’s walking, of course, but it just doesn’t seem to register in her brain.

     Someone is running at them.

     Pidge hears Keith take out his bayard, and Lance quickly follows suit.  He looks through the finder on his rifle.

     “Weapons down, guys,” he signals.  “It’s the Princess.”

     Pidge pushes through them and goes to meet Princess Zantanda.  When they come together, the Princess makes Pidge put her arms around her neck because that’s what she still thinks a kiss is based on what she saw Keith and Lance do.  Zantanda’s hands go to Pidge’s waist, and their mouths softly touch, feather light, but more than enough to send bolts of electricity through Pidge’s body.

     When they break apart, the other paladins and Coran have walked over and are standing a few paces away, warm expressions on their faces.

     Without speaking, Princess Zantanda maneuvers both hers and Pidge’s limbs.  Pidge’s right and Zantanda’s left hands are hovered in the air, their palms pressed together lightly.  Zantanda’s other hand is on top of Pidge’s head, and her face is bowed low.

     Allura and Coran begin to clap.

     Pidge is startled by this, and she looks at Zantanda with wide eyes.

     Hunk, Keith, and Lance hesitantly start clapping.   “What are we clapping for?” Lance whisper-yells.

     Allura says, “Princess Zantanda of Ogblud has announced her desire of courtship with Pidge.”

     “I wanted to announce it to you and your friends before I do it to my whole planet.”

     Pidge opens and closes her mouth without any sound coming out.

     “Is that okay?” the Princess continues.

     Pidge is about to refuse, to say that she can’t be courted by a Princess, that this is moving too fast, but she remembers something that Keith had said.  That Voltron makes us put things in perspective, realize what we want, and realize that  _ we can’t waste time not having it _ .

     Pidge will not waste any more time not having what she wants.   “I would love to accept your courtship,” she says.

     “Ogbluds mate for life,” the Princess says.

     Pidge only smiles.

     “Okay, then.  To accept my offer, you must place your palm on my chest.”

     Pidge does, and Zantanda’s skin begins to glow.  The black dots on her face burn a bright blue before fading to a soft green.  She smiles and clasps Pidge’s hand, pulling it away from her chest.  With her free hand, she runs her finger over Pidge’s face, mirroring the places where the black dots are.

     “I did not know this would happen,” the Princess admits.

     “What?” Pidge asks.

     “Your face.”

     Pidge puts her hand to her face, but she feels nothing amiss.

     The Princess clarifies.  “You have the same markings as Ogbluds do.  They are even glowing green.”

     Though she cannot see them, Pidge assumes that there are lines of soft green dots on her cheekbones and down her nose.   “What does the green mean?”

     “It means that a person is mated.”

     Pidge’s grin could light up the world.

* * *

     “I can’t believe Pidge got married before we did!” Lance complains quietly.

     “We’ve only been dating a ten months,” Keith says.

     “Right, but that’s, like, a week longer than Pidge has even known Princess Zantanda.  This is only her second time seeing her!”

     Pidge does not mention that she has snuck out multiple times to visit.  She’s using the term ‘snuck out’ very loosely here.  Allura had known each time Pidge visited.  Plus, she’s been video-chatting with her every other night.

     Before anyone can reply to that, the King silences the table of paladins and high-ranking Ogbluds with a wave of his hand.

     “I have a proposition for our esteemed guests tonight, the Paladins of Voltron.”

     A few scattered cheers rise up from the table. 

     “Upon this new information of the green paladin and my daughter, the Princess of Ogblud, becoming mates, I believe that my proposal will be all the more attractive.  

     “I am offering you the finest warrior that Ogblud has, my daughter, in a complete alliance with Voltron.  If you will have her, Princess Zantanda has agreed to live upon your castle given that you accept my offer.”

     On video chat, Pidge has seen Zantanda's warrior skills.  And it was probably the most badass thing Pidge has ever watched in her life.

     Under the table, Pidge digs her fingers into Keith’s thigh.  He yelps and glares at her.  She gives him the best puppy dog eyes, but she’s fooling herself if she thinks that Keith would ever say no to the Princess coming aboard to help with the fight against Zarkon and Lotor. 

     “It would be Voltron’s honor to have your daughter on our side in battle,” Keith says.

     “A full alliance between Ogblud and Voltron—” Allura starts to say.

     Pidge does not listen, for she is lost in Princess Zantanda’s smile. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it :) We need more Pidge love. Comments/kudos are greatly appreciated :)


End file.
